


Masters of Our Own Destiny

by Scribescrawls



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M, Platonic Relationships, Platonic Soulmates, Post-Canon, post acofas, slightly negative view of feyre, specifically in regards to her meddling as a matchmaker, vassa jurian feyre mor and rhys mentioned but not present in the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-12
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-29 05:34:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21405019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scribescrawls/pseuds/Scribescrawls
Summary: Lucien is about to set off on a quest to free Vassa from her curse, but before he sets off on his journey he and Elain finally have a long overdue talk with one another about the mating bond between them.
Relationships: Elain Archeron & Lucien Vanserra, Lucien Vanserra/Vassa, implied lucien/vassa
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Masters of Our Own Destiny

Elain was in the middle of gardening when she felt a presence come up behind her. Feyre and Rhysand were both down in the Autumn Court dealing with Beron who was making some fuss about reparations from the war with Hybern, needless to say tensions were running high and they were due to be stuck there for a solid week before their return if one were being optimistic. More likely, meetings would drag on far longer as all the fae present would be embroiled in a pissing contest of wills.

Regardless of their absence from Velaris, the city was safe and Elain was far from worried about any potential threats. Mor was ruling while the High Lady and Lord were away and she was more than capable of running the Night Court while they were absent. Elain wasn’t expecting any company so the appearance of another person caught her off guard. It was also one of the last people she wanted to see.

“What are you doing here?” asked Elain. She looked as if she wanted to run as far away from this encounter as fast as possible at the first given opportunity.

“I’m sorry for the unexpected visit, I know you don’t want to see me and honestly I’m fine with that, but I might die and it doesn’t feel fair to either of us to leave without resolving things between us. I did that last time when I left, but looking back I should have thought it out more on the repercussions it would have on you if I died, especially without warning. Whether we like it or not our lives are tied together.”

“I don’t want a mate.”

Elain looked as if she hadn’t meant to say those words out loud, but it was also clear that she meant them.

The initial words of that statement hurt, but it was an instinctual reaction and if Lucien thought a moment longer the feeling passed and he only felt relief.

“I don’t want a mate either.”

“What?” Elain’s words were a mix of both shock and confusion. Her face expressed bafflement at Lucien’s words. It was as if the thought that he might not want this bond either had never crossed her mind.

“I said I don’t want a mate either, it’s what I came to talk to you about.”

“I’ve been thinking a lot these past few weeks on it and I’ve come to a theory or a hypothesis if you will,” said Lucien.

“While most mating bonds form and those bonded usually end up together, it’s not like there isn’t history of the relationship turning sour or going south quickly. We should decide our own fates. If mating bonds have been wrong before about what makes a good pair then why should we trust it blindly to choose who we should love. Damn the Cauldron or whatever Higher Power decides who should be mates. There was a time when I wanted a mate. When I thought it meant that it was who you were destined to love and would love you back more than anything in the world. I might have been a bit naive and romantically idealistic in what having a mate meant. But let’s be honest with ourselves, we don’t love each other and I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon. I think we should decide our own destinies on who we love.”

Lucien stood anxiously waiting for Elain to respond. Her face was unreadable as she thought over his words, before giving a small sigh sitting down on the soft grass, her dress pooling around her in elegant folds. She motioned toward the grass next to her and he lowered himself on the ground to take a seat beside her. Silence passed as Elain started to pick at the grass.

“Feyre’s always going on about how wonderful having a mate is and she’s always going on about how I should give you a chance and get to know you.”

Elain’s face remained calm as she spoke, but with each word her hands pulled more aggressively at the grass beneath her.

“To be honest it feels like because of this mate thing there’s this expectation that I owe you my affections. I hate it.” 

Her last words were emphasized by the clump of grass she had been picking at being yanked from the ground. Her hands fisted tightly around it, dirt spreading and staining her hands as anger showed in the emotions in her hands contrasting with the blank canvas of her face. 

“Elain you don’t owe me anything and I don’t owe you anything either,” said Lucien gently.

“Funny that Feyre said that to you, cause all I hear from her is ‘give her time’ and ‘we can’t push this on her’ and ‘she didn’t ask for this’ as if I don’t already know that. She tells me to stay away from you and yet tries to also push you towards me. I know your sister means well, but I think she may have made our situation worse with all these mixed signals. I know she believes the mating bond is some beautiful bond, but just because it worked out the way it did for her doesn’t mean it’s going to be that way for everyone. I wish she would stop trying to meddle with my love life, it causes me more grief than help.”

“You and me both.” 

At Elain’s words, Lucien’s eyes rose up to meet hers and a sense of unexpected camaraderie flowed between them. They’d never spoken more than a few words to each other before this, always feeling this weight above their heads when they were in the same room, a tension of expectations of what a mating bond was supposed to mean for them from those around them, but realizing that they both felt similarly about their bond and the knowledge that there was someone who felt exactly as they did on the matter who understood them, it was nice.

“I care for your sister and think she has many talents, but being a matchmaker is not one of them.”

“Agreed.”

“I think we should reject the mating bond,” said Lucien.

“I overheard Feyre and Rhys talking about the mating bond when they thought I wasn’t listening, they said that even if we reject it, it will never disappear forever and it’ll follow us for the rest of our lives whether we like it or not. They said it might be easier for me to ignore it, but for you it’d be maddening and that there’s a possibility that one day even if I was with someone else you might come back and try to challenge them.”

“I would never do that to you Elain and you’re not some prize to be won. If you wanted to be with another or choose someone else to be by your side I would respect your wishes. I’m not some animal. I have some self-control contrary to what Rhys or the others might think.”

“We’d still be bonded though.”

“Unfortunately breaking a mating bond isn’t easy and I don’t have the physical or magical powers to break one,” said Lucien with a sigh.

They sat in silence for a moment, time passing as each of them pondered on what to do about their situation. 

“Well if we can’t get rid of it, I propose an alternative, we become strictly platonic mates,” said Lucien, breaking the silence.

“Strictly platonic mates? Is that even a thing?”

“It’s not conventional and there’s not much precedent written down about it, although I think that’s mostly because too many Fae think with the wrong head.”

Elain's face turned slightly pink at Lucien’s words.

“Ah sorry! I guess I’ve been spending too much time talking to Vassa, she has quite the colorful way with words and I admit I often do too. We’re quite informal with each other in our banter, I’m afraid I’ve grown a bit complacent in minding my words amongst friends. Though some may argue that I have trouble holding my tongue in general.”

Lucien’s words held a certain fondness when speaking of his friend, but there was also a sadness and anger just beneath the surface. A tension that seemed recent, as if a great weight had been placed on him.

“Vassa? The firebird queen? That’s where you’re going then, the place you think you may die?”

“Koschei finally called her back. We stalled as long as we could, but we ran out of time before we could figure out a way to free her. Jurian wanted to go with me, looked like he was going to punch me for suggesting he stay behind. He nearly did, but he understood the logic in him staying. If both Vassa and Jurian left, the humans would tear each other apart trying to fill the power vacuum created by Vassa and Jurian’s absence. I might be the diplomatic liaison between the humans and fae over there, but they won’t listen to some fae giving them orders. I wouldn’t be able to control them on my own. They don’t trust the fae and I honestly can’t blame them much for that. If I go it won’t cause a political uproar or potential riot. Jurian’s still sullen about it, but our situation is what it is.”

“Are you afraid?”

“It doesn’t matter if I am afraid or not. She’s my friend, I couldn’t live with myself if I just abandoned her,” said Lucien softly, but with conviction.

“You love her.”

“She’s my friend. Of course I love her.”

“No that’s not what I meant. You love her as a friend but you also love her in a different way as well.”

“Yes, no, I don’t know, it’s just complicated.” 

“Hmm... I’d say you should tell her the truth in how you feel, but I think you’ve had enough meddling in your love life from us Archerons to last you a lifetime.”

“Strictly platonic mates, huh?” pondered Elain as she ruminated over his proposal.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. When I said you don’t owe me your affections I meant it. That includes any affections of friendship too not just those pertaining to romance.”

“I think being your friend wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. I think I might owe you an apology, I may have misjudged your character cause of my hatred for this bond. I’m sorry.”

“And I’m sorry too, if my presence ever made you uncomfortable or if I seemed like I was trying to push my affections on you, whether it was intentional or not.”

“Friends then?” asked Elain, as she put her hand out toward Lucien. Lucien took her hand giving her a firm but gentle handshake, sealing their agreement.

“Friends.”

His hand was still holding hers as he said his next words. 

“Find your own happiness Elain, whether that is with someone else or if it’s something that you’ll find within yourself, you deserve to be happy.”

Elain watched Lucien stand up and turn away preparing to leave Velaris for his mission. A mission that he may not come back from.

“Wait!”

Elain plucked a yellow rose from the nearby bush that she was trimming and held it out toward Lucien.

“Yellow roses symbolize friendship, you deserve to be happy too.”

Lucien took the flower gently from her hand and gave her a soft smile.

“Thank you.”

Elain returned his smile, speaking her next words with a slight teasing tone.

“Try not to die? It would be a shame if our new friendship died before it could even start.”

“I make no promises, but I will try my best.”

With those last words to each other, they both set out to start new chapters in their lives.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope that these two get to talk things out and my best hope is that they become platonic mates! If anything I wrote regarding world building is off, my bad it's been a while since I've read the books! Hope you guys like it! Feel free to comment below on what you think! I admit this was entirely self indulgent since Lucien is my fav lol (side not: this is just my own interpretations of the characters so if you disagree that's fine!) Also this fic is unbeta'd so if there are any grammar mistakes oops lol


End file.
